Paradox
by CompetiveSwimmaChick
Summary: It all makes an imperfect perfect, but when life has one racing through London's streets with interludes of dancing in the rain, that paradox works just fine.  Focus on Irene/Sherlock and Bromance, appearances of Ms. Hudson and Mary/John if desired.


So this is a sentence challenge, one sentence per word (50 words!). This is harder to do than it looks :P I am common splicing and run-on sentencing everywhere, but I decided to go more for the story than the grammar...

Some are introspective, others are dialogue, whilst others seem more like excerpts from what could be a larger story. Each one is connected to the one above it and below it in some fashion: some are directly linked (the events happen immediately after each other) while others indirectly have something in common with the sentence below and above it. However, they are not chronological. They take place before, during, and after the movie.

Lastly, have fun with it! Try different pairings. Most were made with Irene/Sherlock or bromance in mind, but maybe try adding in some Mary/Watson? I'd like to hear your different takes on the sentences.

I hope you enjoy :)

**Paradox**.

1.** Familiar**. She laughed silently as a single tear ran down her face, and finds it oddly comforting that this conflict of emotions doesn't feel the least bit foreign.

2.** Ability**. She knows that he knows that she could have broken out of the cuffs, without the key, in the utmost of ten minutes if she wanted to - what kind were they, the standard English police variety? Make that five - or in any case escaped from the police as soon as they captured her, for she had no desire to see the inside of a jail cell; he had left her the key anyway, in agreement to this give and take game they played.

3. **Peek**. There was no need to look back, it would only aggravate and complicate everything, those eyes would haunt, no, but it's not like those eyes would be watching, it couldn't hurt, no, yes, those eyes, don't look, well, maybe just a glance, just for a second...

4.** Beauty**. No matter how much resolve he steeled or logic he summoned, every time he caught sight of her she succeeded in stealing his breath and brains away as he found himself wondering if it were possible she was even more captivating then the last time he saw her, and her mere presence seemed to fill every corner of every room.

5. **Stimulant**. She had almost the same effect that cocaine and alcohol did, but better, because he was always completely captivated, all of his senses alert, in his element, but feeling the opposite of sober.

6.** Fresh**. He had a new addiction.

7.** Powder**. The needle lay in his drawer gathering dust whenever she was around.

8.** Explosion**. As the fog in both his brain and the air clears, in some far distant memory that seems more like a nightmare, there is a whisper and feeling that he might have just lost the two things that mean the most to him, and he desperately wants to do something, anything, but he can't move or speak, and his eyelids are closing uncontrollably on him, so he slips back into oblivion for the time being and hopes to awake to something better.

9.** Beginnings**. Every time he saw her was like the first time, only better.

10.** Memory**. Watson smiled as he finally recognized the piece of music Holmes had been obsessing over, breaking bows in his search for perfection; it was the piece Irene had sang three years back when they snuck into the opera house and hid backstage, for though they could have easily obtained a box, this position was so much closer to the performers.

11.** Song**. He hadn't heard anything until he'd heard her sing.

12.** Abyss**. It seemed to be the more he discovered about her the more she puzzled him, drew him in, and the more he wanted to know, yet for once he was okay with the fact that this mystery may perhaps be simply unsolvable.

13.** Expensive**. So she likes the finer things in life, she shrugs, what girl doesn't?

14. **Gift**. He really hoped she'd like the ring.

15.** Punctual**. Whoever had made the presumption that army men are always on time had obviously never factored in the dilemma of the demanding best friend.

16.** Walk**. "Come now, Watson, no time for dawdling!" the detective pants, several paces ahead of his colleague who yells back, "Sorry, perhaps I was under the impression that when you asked me to accompany you on a leisurely stroll around the park, you didn't mean a mad chase throughout London!".

17.** Hunt**. Watson could never fathom how, if it was him who enjoyed the chasing and her who enjoyed the catching, why she was considered the prey and him the predator; or had they managed, in their own twisted fashion, to defy even that simple stereotype?

18.** Lost**. "Your muse seems to excel just as much at exits as she does at entrances," Watson remarks, as they both stare blankly into the crowd where the lady in the red dress seemingly vanished into thin air only a moment before.

19.** Blunder**. He spots Holmes on the stairway and blusters, "Was that - " he pauses, but decides to forgo matter of her appropriate surname at this moment in exchange for "That Woman?", but his efforts clearly aren't appreciated by Holmes who looks down at him and quickly replies, "The Woman, Watson, yes that was The Woman."

20. **Overpowering**. There's an almost finality to the way he says it, and surprised she looks up but is quickly reassured by what she sees; no matter what the lips may say, not even Sherlock Holmes had genius or self-restraint enough to control those intense brown eyes.

21. **Disbelief**. "And you really actually believed that would stop me?"

22.** Rebel**. She did the opposite of what she was told, she lived for someone - especially him - to tell her 'no', just so she could do exactly that, then turn around and laugh in his face.

23.** Dream**. That laugh, tinkling with mirth and triumph, paired with a wink and an impish smirk, haunts his dreams and floats in and out of his consciousness, cackling at his underestimation and folly, but leaves a smile on his face when he wakes.

24.** Exclusive**. When did one night turn into a one life stand?

25.** Children.** An image suddenly pops into his head, and Watson finds himself wondering what their kids would look and act like, but quickly comes to his senses and looks fugitively around and banishes the thought, lest Holmes or Irene could read his mind.

26.** Unorthodox**. They didn't have to talk about what their relationship really was with each other; it was simply understood.

27.** Dark**. She gets up and turns off the light, and with the sudden blackness comes a sudden chill so he rolls to his other side and curls up into himself, but when the bed dips a minute later he instantly rolls back and feels the warmth return.

28.** Forgiveness**. "I thought you weren't staying," he whispers into her hair, pulling her close to him, and she murmurs into his chest, "I lied."

29.** Drink**. The times when they fall asleep in each other's arms are rare, but rarer still are those times where he is gone before she is awake; there in his place is a warm cup of the best roasted coffee he could get, done just the way she likes it.

30.** Accomplice**. Was it possible that this horrific nightmare was really unravelling in front of him: Mrs. Hudson and Irene, each devious and dangerous in their own right, were standing in front of him as comrades in arms, (just how on earth they became acquainted he'd rather not fathom) ready to take their shots on poor, defenseless him, lying at their feet after rudely being awaken from a dream world which looked much more welcoming then this?

31.** Surprise. ** Getting Holmes to eat routine meals at any time was difficult, yet doing so while he was in the midst of a case was near impossible for Ms. Hudson, and so explains her shocked reaction where the tea platter almost met the floor when she opened Holmes's door and found him, in his regular 'thinking position' by the fireplace, eating what looked like walnuts quite by his own violation, and, unless she was truly hallucinating, enjoying them?

32.** Parcel**. She keeps track of his work and adventures abroad so that she always knows when he is bored and in a self induced stupor, and so explained the gifts Watson would find on the doorstep every few months when Holmes had cooped himself up in his room, an exotic present or puzzle from an equally exotic place.

33.** Perfume. **She sighed as she put down the empty bottle, noting to herself that she would have to get more next time she was in Paris, but she didn't give it much more thought until a week later a new bottle - the largest that could be obtained - arrived on her doorstep by the fastest service, the absence of a note a more than adequate signature.

34.** Expose**. "No matter how much effort you put into disguising yourself, I always know it's you," he said as he tugged a brown curl free from underneath the wig and poked at the thick and shapeless grey dress.

35.** Retaliate**. "Just as you can never trick me," she winks, yanking off his false nose and stealing his glasses to put on her own face.

36.** Trick**. He fell for it every time either of them did it, but he doesn't believe it's his fault - when Sherlock Holmes or Irene Adler turns to look or points at something, you're going to turn and look too, you can't help the reaction, it's inevitable, and just the way it works.

37.** Nerves**. Watson sighs as he places his bet, for even though he knows what his friend was capable of, there is always something intimidating about the opponent being twice Sherlock's width.

38.** Score**. She rests her forehead on his and looks straight into his eyes, then tilts her head, her low and seductive voice filled with its usual amount of teasing as she breathes into his ear: "I'd really prefer it if you don't allow this man beat you, I like being the only one who can do that."

39.** Green**. "Why, you're not jealous... Are you?"

40.** Leave**. She laughs and pushes him out the door, but not before she can steal one last kiss.

41.** Brake**. The rain, whipped at their faces by the wind, is coming down harder by the second, causing even the homeless to desert the streets, and her umbrella is progressively looking rather worse for wear; he's rushing to get home as fast as he can, and though she used to be right at his tail, as they turn down a narrow alley he notices that she's slowing down, until she finally stops at the widest part, lets the umbrella go, and watches it soar away into the sky...

42.** Thundershower**. "Then come and dance with me," she answers, twirling to her own beat in the mud and downpour.

43. **Definite**. They're thoroughly drenched and kicking up mud with every step, and for all of his observation skills he has no clue where the umbrella has gotten to, but they never miss a beat or overstep, and something about this certainty in the midst of chaos seems appropriate.

44.** Illuminate**. It's so dark now it's almost black, but in a flash of lightning he gets a clear glimpse of her face as her spins her around, her head tilted up to the heavens and her mouth open in a laugh that the deafening thunder and pounding of the rain drown out, but can do nothing to lessen the intensity of the moment.

45.** Silence.** He can't help himself, and as the lightning darts from cloud to cloud overhead, he follows suit and allows nature to steal the sound of his laughter from him.

46.** Audacity. **There is music playing for the numerous couples on the dance floor, but as the night is still young there are even more standing around, the old, the young, the rich, the names, the society climbers, and the bachelors... which is where he finally spots her, the only one of these hundred which he cares to see, for an Irene in her element is not something to be missed; but when one gets so daring to put his hand on her back, he strides up amidst the glares and asks for the honor of her hand for the next dance.

47.** Watch**. "Bet you didn't think I could do that," Sherlock smirks as he twirls Irene back from a spin and they continue their quick and complicated dance steps in perfect time, at the centre of both the floor and the attention.

48.** Step**. They smile, and though this time it's not laughter in reckless abandon, it is monumental nonetheless as it's the most either would allow their masks and armor to slip in public.

49.** Perfect.** If they could only be free to themselves and each other whilst together in the midst a storm, a storm they would create.

50. **Anomaly**. They make an imperfect perfect, but he figures that paradox suits them just fine.

Reviews would be **electrifying**, and constructive criticism is appreciated. I may do another 50, but it depends on reviews.

**Tell me which one is your favourite :)**


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